CAMPAIGNERS SAY COUNCILS NEED POWERS TO COMBAT LAND BANKING

A campaign is being launched today against land banking – the process by which small investors buy up parcels of land in the hope of being able to build homes. The Government is being urged to act to stop the carve up of the countryside, including giving local councils the power to remove fences. The Campaign to Protect Rural England says the practice is putting fields and woods at risk of being disfigured and neglected.

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COUNCILS ‘MUST BE SMART’ IN ENGAGING WITH SHARED SERVICES AGENDA

Local Government will need to navigate its way successfully towards efficient partnering with other authorities or councils, or they will face being forced to change the ways they do business by the Comprehensive Spending Review, according to the independent think tank, the New Local Government Network in a report published today.

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By Peter Jackson The policy advice industry has grown with academics assuming the role of a wholesaler supplying ideas to retailers, the consultancy firms and think tanks, who in turn pass it on to practitioners at national and local level. The author questions the reliability of this intellectual support. He also exposes the myth that evidence based policy decisions are value free and argues that they are still influenced by ideology and politics. This article was first published in Public Management and Policy and is reproduced by permission of the Association. http://www.cipfa.org.uk/pmpa/index.cfm